Last fall Judge Cynthia Brim [recieved] barely the necessary “Yes” votes to keep the job that she has been suspended from–with pay–for months.

This week Brim heads to court–not a a judge–but as a defendant. And the Chicago Sun-Times says she plans to plead insanity to a misdemeanor battery charge.

Once judges in Illinois are elected–they only have to face a retention vote every six years.

It’s been 23 years since a Cook County judge was booted by voters from the bench. Brim, despite the recommendation of a “No” vote from the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Bar Association, collected the one endorsement that counted– last fall the Cook County Democratic Party urged a “Yes” vote for all judges up for retentions, including Brim. The Trib gave Brim an excoriating rebuke last fall.

As the Sun-Times first reported, a psychiatric examination determined Brim was “legally insane” when she allegedly tossed her keys at a security checkpoint in the downtown Daley Center court complex on March 9 last year, shoved a sheriff’s deputy and struggled with officers as they arrested her.

“Ms. Cynthia Brim was suffering from symptoms of a psychotic mental disorder, i.e. schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type, as a result of which she lacked the substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of her act,” according to Dr. Mathew S. Markos, a psychiatrist who heads the Cook County court system’s forensic clinical services….

Brim, 54, has been on the bench since 1994 and won another six-year term in November despite low marks from the local bar associations over the years and her arrest. She did not return a call for comment. The psychiatric examination conducted after her arrest determined she is “presently mentally fit with medication.”

Well of course she’s now mentally healthy enough to continue working, she wouldn’t want to pass up her $182,000 per year salary, plus benefits:

“I’m just happy the people voted me back in,” said Brim, who was suspended from her $182,000-a-year job in March after a wild week in which she was removed from her Markham courtroom after launching into a rambling 45-minute tirade and then, a day later, was charged with shoving a deputy at the Daley Center.

Soon after being charged with misdemeanor battery, a panel of supervising judges barred her from entering the county’s courthouses without a police escort. But neither that, nor the fact that numerous bar associations have recommended since 2000 that voters toss Brim from the bench, kept her from narrowly retaining her seat Tuesday.

Brim won 63.5 percent of the vote, according to preliminary totals, and needed only 60 percent to be retained for another six-year term. She hasn’t presided over a courtroom in seven months but continues to collect her paycheck.

And to think, Blago is sitting is a fed penitentiary. Perhaps the people of Illinois need to plead insanity.

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“Sources told the Sun-Times that Brim made comments during her call that were “racial in nature,” accusing South Holland police officers of ticketing only black and Hispanic drivers. She also accused south suburban police officers of conspiring to get her fired, a source said.”

I wondered something similar. If she succeeds and is acknowledged as having a “schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type,”, what about any judgements/opinions she issued that day or even within a reasonable time frame of that one event? I can imagine there being a massive rush of defense attorneys requesting investigations to prove it wasn’t a one time event, too. And on and on….

Because after the Demo machine went all in to retain her on the bench, any lawyer foolish enough to challenge her competence will get stomped by the same machine. I didn’t catch whether she hears criminal cases or not, but I will bet that the Public Defender’s office and case assignments are run with the same pay-to-play attitude the rest of Chicago has to live by.

“imfine” Your reforms are thoughtful and would do much to re-balance the equation between the common citizen and those employed by government.
As things stand in large city governments, if they eliminate the insane, the infirm (incapable of performing necessary duties), the incompetent, the lazy, the law-breakers, and the criminal political appointees, who may hold a title and take full pay and privileges, but really work full time on Party issues (precinct captains, etc), we would start with a clean slate and with lots of job openings.

Any Thinking American (an admittedly small group) would consider that, if the Judge is declaring ‘insanity’, what does that mean to all the cases and decisions she has made? Here in Texas, she’d be out on the curb while ALL of her cases were reviewed.

I appreciate the evaluation by Dr. Markos, but perhaps we should have an independent evaluation of Her Honor. Especially since Her Honor could make Dr. Markos’ life difficult in any number of ways once she returns to the bench.

It is like the far left liberals/ Obamacrats, are all in a union, their union, and everything they say ad do is protected by that union, regardless of offense. And anything they say and do must benefit their far left agenda.. if so, then they are immuned from the same civil society rules of conduct, behavior, laws, etc., as the rest of society, more specifically conservatives, whom are of course subject a different set of standards, more severe strict narrow set of rules in society.

This is what they make their perception of in society into reality, by allowing the degradation, open violation of specific rules, laws, etc, as acceptable in society because they’re Democrat / Liberal, whereas if they were Republican, and or conservative, they would be chastised and crucified from the highest post in society.

But we do not have to accept this, nor abide by this, and we must never capitulate to their absurd insane rules of societal impropriety.